“It’s monotonous hard work, past hundreds or thousands of minefields,” said a Ukrainian military official, who like others interviewed for this report spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive battlefield developments.

The initial phase of the fighting in early June saw forces from Ukraine’s 9th Corps using a range of newly acquired Western equipment but incurring losses and making little progress in the face of well-prepared Russian defenses, especially minefields.

Instead of waiting to deploy a large portion of 10th Corps reserves until Ukraine arrived at Russia’s main defensive line, Kyiv called them in last week, resulting in a major uptick in fighting.

“This last week of fighting has been important because they decided to commit their second echelon of forces in a greater way,” said Rob Lee, a military analyst with the Foreign Policy Research Institute who just returned from a visit to Ukraine’s front lines to analyze the conflict.

The Pentagon has projected confidence amid criticisms that Ukraine’s Western-trained forces are performing worse than their Ukrainian-trained brethren who stunned the world in the autumn with major territorial gains around the strategic cities of Kharkiv and Kherson.

The intense fighting along multiple swaths of the front lines has coincided with a deliberate effort by Kyiv and Moscow to sow chaos and fear in the two countries’ respective population centers with long-range drone and missile strikes.

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